1952 St. Louis Browns season

The 1952 St. Louis Browns season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Browns finishing 7th in the American League with a record of 64 wins and 90 losses. This was the franchise's penultimate season in St. Louis.

1952 St. Louis Browns
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Sportsman's Park (since 1902) St. Louis, Missouri (since 1902)
Results
Record	64–90 (.416)
League place	7th
Other information
Owner(s)	Bill Veeck
General manager(s)	Bill Veeck
Manager(s)	Rogers Hornsby, Marty Marion
Local television	KSD (Buddy Blattner)
Local radio	WIL (Buddy Blattner, Dizzy Dean)
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Offseason

• November 27, 1951: Al Widmar, Sherm Lollar, and Tom Upton were traded by the Browns to the Chicago White Sox for Joe DeMaestri, Gordon Goldsberry, Dick Littlefield, Gus Niarhos, and Jim Rivera.[1]

Regular season

In 1952, Rogers Hornsby, an alleged former member of the Ku Klux Klan, took over as manager of the Browns. Despite past accusations of racism, Hornsby was less hesitant to use pitcher Satchel Paige than Indians manager Lou Boudreau had been four years before. Paige was so effective that when Hornsby was fired by Browns owner Bill Veeck, his successor Marty Marion seemed not to want to risk going more than three games without using Paige in some form. By July 4, with Paige having worked in 25 games, Casey Stengel named him to the American League All-Star team, making him the first black pitcher on an AL All-Star team. The All-Star game was cut short after five innings due to rain and Paige never got in. Stengel resolved to name him to the team the following year. Paige finished the year 12–10 with a 3.07 ERA for a team that lost ninety games.

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	95	59	0.617	—	49–28	46–31
Cleveland Indians	93	61	0.604	2	49–28	44–33
Chicago White Sox	81	73	0.526	14	44–33	37–40
Philadelphia Athletics	79	75	0.513	16	45–32	34–43
Washington Senators	78	76	0.506	17	42–35	36–41
Boston Red Sox	76	78	0.494	19	50–27	26–51
St. Louis Browns	64	90	0.416	31	42–35	22–55
Detroit Tigers	50	104	0.325	45	32–45	18–59

Record vs. opponents

1952 American League Records Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHI	STL	WSH
Boston	—	12–10	9–13	16–6	8–14	12–10	11–11	8–14
Chicago	10–12	—	8–14–1	17–5	8–14	11–11	14–8	13–9–1
Cleveland	13–9	14–8–1	—	16–6	10–12	13–9	15–7	12–10
Detroit	6–16	5–17	6–16	—	9–13	5–17–1	8–14	11–11–1
New York	14–8	14–8	12–10	13–9	—	13–9	14–8	15–7
Philadelphia	10–12	11–11	9–13	17–5–1	9–13	—	14–8	9–13
St. Louis	11–11	8–14	7–15	14–8	8–14	8–14	—	8–14–1
Washington	14–8	9–13–1	10–12	11–11–1	7–15	13–9	14–8–1	—

Notable transactions

• July 28, 1952: Darrell Johnson and Jim Rivera were traded by the Browns to the Chicago White Sox for Jay Porter and Ray Coleman.[2]
• August 14, 1952: Jim Delsing, Ned Garver, Bud Black and Dave Madison were traded by the Browns to the Detroit Tigers for Dick Littlefield, Marlin Stuart, Don Lenhardt and Vic Wertz.[3]

Roster

1952 St. Louis Browns
Roster
Pitchers 30 Gene Bearden 15 Tommy Byrne 33 Bob Cain 20,28 Cliff Fannin 31 Ned Garver 35 Earl Harrist 24 Johnny Hetki 24 Bobby Hogue 17 Ken Holcombe 34 Hal Hudson 18 Dick Littlefield 26 Dave Madison 24 Bob Mahoney 25 Stubby Overmire 29 Satchel Paige 12 Duane Pillette 25 Lou Sleater 26 Marlin Stuart 23 Pete Taylor		Catchers 11 Clint Courtney 40 Darrell Johnson 10 Les Moss Infielders  3 Hank Arft  1 Joe DeMaestri 27 Jim Dyck 8,14 Gordon Goldsberry  6 Mike Goliat  9 Dick Kryhoski  4 Marty Marion  2 Fred Marsh  6 Cass Michaels 34 Willy Miranda 28 Stan Rojek 18 Roy Sievers  8 Leo Thomas  5 Bobby Young		Outfielders 17 Ray Coleman 21 Jake Crawford 18 Jim Delsing 23 Don Lenhardt 19 Bob Nieman 22 Jay Porter 17 Earl Rapp  7 Jim Rivera 21 George Schmees 20 Vic Wertz 22 Tom Wright 14 Al Zarilla		Manager 42 Rogers Hornsby  4 Marty Marion Coaches  4 Marty Marion 47 Bill Norman 44 Bob Scheffing

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
SS	Joe DeMaestri	81	186	42	.226	1	18

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Gordon Goldsberry	86	227	52	.229	3	17
Tom Wright	29	66	16	.242	1	6
Ray Coleman	20	46	9	.196	0	1

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Tommy Byrne	29	176	9	14	4.68	91
Bob Caine	29	170	12	10	4.13	70
Dick Littlefield	7	46.1	2	3	2.72	34

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Gene Bearden	34	150.2	7	8	4.30	45

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Toronto Maple Leafs	International League	Joe Becker and Burleigh Grimes
AA	San Antonio Missions	Texas League	Jo-Jo White
A	Scranton Miners	Eastern League	Zack Taylor
B	York White Roses	Interstate League	Jim Crandall
B	Anderson Rebels	Tri-State League	George Hausmann
C	Stockton Ports	California League	Harry Clements and Tony Freitas
C	Pine Bluff Judges	Cotton States League	Hillis Layne
C	Aberdeen Pheasants	Northern League	Bruce Ogrodowski
C	Pocatello Bannocks	Pioneer League	Ed Fernandes
D	Independence Browns	Kansas–Oklahoma–Missouri League	Fred Collins
D	Wellsville Rockets	PONY League	Gene Crumling and Rocco Sgro
D	Ada Herefords	Sooner State League	Bill Enos, Virl Loman and James England

Notes

1. Joe DeMaestri at Baseball-Reference
2. Jay Porter at Baseball-Reference
3. Bud Black at Baseball-Reference

References

• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
• 1952 St. Louis Browns team at Baseball-Reference
• 1952 St. Louis Browns season at baseball-almanac.com